From April 21 to 24, the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement (Escazú COP4) will take place in the Bahamas. The Escazú Agreement is a legally binding regional treaty that guarantees access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters, making it one of the world’s first agreements to explicitly protect environmental human rights defenders. This gathering brings together representatives from countries that are part of this regional treaty to advance its effective implementation across Latin America and the Caribbean.

At a time when democratic institutions are weakening and some political leaders are increasingly dismissive of environmental protection, COP4 stands out as a key international space to sustain dialogue between governments and civil society, and to strengthen what is often referred to as environmental democracy – the ability of people to access information, participate in decisions that affect their environment, and seek justice when those rights are violated.

The main focus areas of this year’s meeting include:

• Advancing national implementation of the Escazú Agreement,
• developing pollutant release and transfer registers,
• public participation in decision-making processes related to projects and activities with potentially significant environmental impacts,
• access to justice in environmental matters, and
• the integration of a gender perspective across the implementation of the Escazú Agreement.

During COP4, there will also be an assessment of the implementation of the Regional Action Plan on Women and Men Human Rights Defenders in environmental matters, adopted in 2024. This is particularly urgent in Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the most dangerous regions in the world for environmental defenders, who often face intimidation, legal harassment, and, in some cases, violence for their work. As part of this review, civil society representatives will present a report documenting concrete cases involving defenders across the region.

Argentina: Regulatory Setbacks and Lack of Implementation

In Argentina, although a roadmap and an implementation plan for the Escazú Agreement were approved at the end of 2023, there has been virtually no progress in practice, and implementation has effectively stalled. The State appears more focused on granting fiscal and regulatory advantages to corporations than on protecting environmental defenders or creating conditions that enable the exercise of environmental rights.

Since the last COP held in April 2024 in Chile, developments in Argentina have been regressive. Through Decree 780/2024 – published in September 2024 – the right of access to public information has been restricted by narrowing its scope and granting public officials broad discretionary powers to determine what information is disclosed. In practical terms, this makes it more difficult for citizens, journalists, and civil society organizations to obtain public information, while also introducing the possibility of sanctions for those who submit repeated requests.

Public participation has also been weakened. A recent example is the process of public hearings related to proposed changes to Argentina’s Glacier Law – a cornerstone environmental protection law designed to safeguard glaciers from extractive activities –  which was marked by restrictions on social participation.

In this context, the Environmental and Climate Observatory for the Implementation of the Escazú Agreement in Argentina, drawing on a report by Proyecto Meulen – an interdisciplinary research initiative based at the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences of the National University of the Littoral (Santa Fe, Argentina), led by Dr. María Valeria Berros – has identified regulatory and institutional regressions that undermine environmental democracy, in violation of the Agreement’s non-regression principle.

Among the main setbacks highlighted in the report are:

• The dismantling of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development’s organizational structure.
• The repeal of tools designed to promote renewable energy.
• Amendments to the Administrative Procedures Law that allow public hearings to be replaced by other mechanisms.
• The delegation of environmental powers to the Executive Branch.
• The potential precedence of the Large Investment Incentive Regime over environmental regulations.
• The elimination of the Native Forest Fund.
• The dissolution of the National Entity for Water and Sanitation Infrastructure (ENOHSA). 
• The transfer of the Federal Fire Management System to the Ministry of Security.

Taken together, these measures point to a broader weakening of environmental governance and oversight in the country.

While Argentina formally maintains instruments such as a roadmap and an implementation plan, the combination of regulatory backsliding and the absence of concrete progress places it in a concerning position compared to other countries in the region when it comes to meeting its commitments.